“RTJ” earned his fifth career World of Outlaws Feature win; Nick Hoffman jumped to second in points, cutting Brandon Sheppard’s point lead in half
Ricky Thornton Jr. can count on one hand his number of starts at The Dirt Track at Charlotte during World of Outlaws World Finals but he already made history there Thursday night.
In his fifth start at the Charlotte track with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models, Thornton scored his third straight victory, joining Jimmy Owens as the only driver to win three straight World Finals Features.
He put himself in position to do so by drawing the Bilstein Pole Award for the 35-lap Feature.
However, Hyndman, PA native Drake Troutman got the best of Thornton at the drop of the Gorsuch Performance green flag, passing him on the high side of the 4/10-mile dirt track.
While Troutman controlled the early going, Thornton had to fend off Gray Court, SC driver Chris Madden from stealing his second-place position as the two drivers traded both the high and low lanes to find an advantage.
When Troutman got caught in lap traffic, Thornton took advantage of the opportunity to build momentum by closing the bubble on the high side of the track as the laps continued to tick down.
Thornton took his chances to pass Troutman when he got caught by a lapped car on the bottom lane to open up the door for the No. 20RT to swing by for the lead with 13 laps remaining.
Continuing to use the high line to his advantage, Thornton extended his length from the field as Troutman had to battle Madden to retain second place.
Flying under the twin checkered flags, Thornton joined Owens in the record books.
“Jimmy’s always been my hero growing up, so it’s pretty cool to share something like that with him,” Thornton said. “This track kind of suits me, you can run hard around the bottom or roll through the middle or really get after it around the top. Last year, I felt really good, and this year is a different team, but it’s the same car, shocks, motor program. Hopefully, we can qualify in a good spot for the Heat, then get a good draw. Everyone was about as equal as you’re gonna get, so we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Thornton attempted to make the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Feature earlier in the night but missed the show. However, he credited the track time to helping him secure the Late Model victory.
“Running the Sprint Car definitely helped,” Thornton said. “It sucks that we didn’t make the show but running the LCS really helped me understand how racey the track was. Troutman was running through the middle early, and he was a little bit better than I was. Once we got to traffic and slowed down, I was able to get back around him. I think he saw me move down so I had to hustle really hard up on the wall to get by him.”
Troutman finished second to Thornton with lessons he can use from Thursday to go after his first World of Outlaws CASE Late Models win in the two nights to come at Charlotte.
“That one was tough to swallow,” Troutman said. “I feel like Ricky was a little bit better than us, but I feel like if I would have known what he was doing and go up before him, maybe we could have held on. That lap traffic really hurt us. I felt like I got a really good line through the middle for the first 15 laps. But I used up my tires pretty bad at the beginning and I gotta use my head behind the seat and do a better job.”
Madden rounded out the opening night’s podium in his first Series start since May. Madden said it was the first Feature on his No. 44 Team22 Inc. Late Model that he piloted to the third-place result.
“It was pretty good there,” Madden said. “We just needed a little bit more of an adjustment there. This was my first time in this car, this is a brand new car, so it wasn’t bad. It came out of the box pretty good, so we’ll keep tuning on it and find what it’s asking for and give it (what it wants). I think we have a shot to win one of these races before we leave this weekend. We feel really good about what we got going on, we got a good hot rod, and we’ll get us one of these.”
Winfield, TN driver Mike Marlar finished fourth, and Fayetteville, NC native Daulton Wilson ended the night with a top-five result.
Behind the top runners was a wild shake up in the championship chase. With points leader Brandon Sheppard finishing 18th, Bobby Pierce finishing 13th and Nick Hoffman finishing sixth, Hoffman jumped to second in points, now 26 points behind Sheppard. Pierce is third, 34 points back.
RECAP NOTES:
Simpson Quick Time Award: Chris Madden
Heat Race Winners: Chris Madden, Drake Troutman, Ricky Thornton Jr, Jordan Koehler, Mike Marlar, Daulton Wilson
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Cade Dillard, Zack Mitchell, Kyle Strickler
Bilstein Pole Award: Ricky Thornton Jr
Fox Factory Hard Charger: Jonathan Davenport (+10)
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models rip around The Dirt Track at Charlotte for two more nights of the World of Outlaws World Finals on Friday, Nov. 8, and Saturday, Nov. 9. Drivers will again race for 35 laps with a $15,000 payday on Friday.
TICKETS: bit.ly/2024WorldFinals
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all of the action on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
